Oh, my gawd! Not that!



Oh my,where do I begin.  Cooking class with my favorite Italian Chef at Fresina's Pasta Company.  I cannot imagine a better way to spend a Friday than with this wonderful group of people.  Here are Ann and Linda (she is the boss lady of the place) hanging together sampling some of the luscious goodies.  Chef Enzo does make that antiquated electric stove sing, yeah darling.

First we had some wine.  Then created an appetizer of cauliflower and broccoli fried and topped with a red sauce to die for.  The veggies were not greasy or over done, they were still crisp in the center.  Even cold they were incredible dipped into the warm sauce.  

Then we had some more wine.  A hearty red with a full flavor.  My favorite soup of all time is Pasta e Fagioli.  I learned the very secret to making this zuppa.  You need the right little tiny pasta d'italias.  And it is not only the right sausage but the right stock!  I am not giving that one away.  You have to come eat with me first! 

We cooled the portions we took home on the stairs, too funny a picture to pass up.

Next some grapefruit wine before he butchered some chicken, sliced thinly for scallappine.  Dredged in spices and fried in incredible olive oil.  They were held in the oven until the Marsala was ready. 

Talk about incredible.  Sweet sweet Marsala.  I love you!

Demi glace, ahhh.  It feels good just tossing around the words that make up this recipe. 

He plated the pollo with a capellini aglio olio.  Tons of garlic, just what an Italian girl wants for dinner!  Frank can't wait for me to fix this for him.  His favorite thing in an Italian restaurant is the Capellini Pomodoro.  Check it out.  Are your taste buds watering yet? 

While he was cooking, Chef Enzo created quite a mess.  Even though he is a really neat cook and uses paper plates when he can, he created a lot of dishes this time.  So I jumped in and washed stuff up.  We talked about his new boxer pup Vito.  What a great name.  Vito Signorelli!  Something for that little guy to live up to.

I went home the rest of the leftovers and all the wine.  Great pay for little work, I say.  When I got him DiNozzo was so happy to see me.  The first thing he did was to plunge his head into the bag and check out the goodies I brought with me. 

About 5 minutes later I hear a gigantic scuffle in the yard and Chloe the Smelly Basset comes running to me with her mouth salivating.  She is literally dripping with drool!  I check her and she appears to be fine.  So I go check DiNozzo thinking maybe they got a snake or something from the crazy neighbor over the fence.

He does have a piece of saran wrap hanging out his mouth.  I chase him down and he is happy to comply with chase game.  He stays right ahead of my grasp.  Finally I corner him and take the

REGGIANO PARMASEAN CHEESE

out of his mouth.  Oh, my gawd, not that!  Take the soup, take the wine but NOT the cheese!

So what do you expect I did?  I rinsed it off and popped it into the fridge!

glen:  I am NOT going to waste THAT!

Two Busy Days




 

The last two days have been busy with classes.  I taught a pillow case class today and prepped them for paper piecing next week.  Here are some pictures from that group.



Silly girls!


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making pillowcases





Christmas pillowcases



Showing quilts to the group





Then yesterday the other group got together and I completed 9 more Twisted Sister Halloween blocks. 

No one else did a thing!  LOL.  But we did talk a lot!  Judy T. showed up and we talked some more!  Then Norma's glasses disappeared and we spent the rest of the afternoon tearing the room apart looking for the elusive glasses.  Turns out, when Judy left she just picked up the glasses laying on the table and left thinking they were hers!  LOL.

Norma loaded a quilt on her long arm and I watched hoping to pick up some pointers.  I learned a lot!  Thanks, Norma.  So I guess we did get some stuff done!

glen



Organizational Wednesday

I want to promise myself that I will not come out of my quilt room without organizing something.  Anything.

Here it is nearly 11 am, and will be by the time I complete this, and I have not yet achieved that goal.

But I did sit with my dog a bit.  And I made myself a cup of coffee to sip with him.  And that was a good use of my time.He had gone out to sun a while and came in frantic about something.  Not sure what it was.

I am preparing for a paper piecing class I am teaching.  It is the precursor to a project I want to do and thought my group would like to learn a new technique.  I am going to do tessellated cats with them and then turn it into a baby quilt.  A sneaky way to get a project done from my stash! 

But they will be pleased I think to "donate" their blocks to the cause.  This is not the pattern I am using but it is a cute cat tessellation!

To the right is a quilt pattern by Jan Miller called Sawtooth Cats.  I want to make this soon.  If I get the people interested in making cats, maybe it will be sooner than later!

glen

PS:    See, I am doing anything to get out of cleaning up the quilt room.......

Norma's quilting, Halloween and a fabulous prize win

I am off to work on my Halloween Quilt with some friends.  We are putting together a quilting "study" group per se.  We meet and just work on our stuff.  Sometimes we help each other out if something needs to be completed.  Hopefully I will have the Halloween Quilt completed today and decide on what to do with it.  I will either make two with sashing or one big one without.  To Be Determined Later.

I did pick up my Snowflake Mystery Quilt from the quilter yesterday.  Norma McD. does such beautiful work.  She took my lousy quilt and made it look incredible.  She used an overall pattern that made the snowflakes look like they were fluttering in the wind.  My yard is so beautiful for taking these quilt pictures.  I think I need to have a quilt show in my own back yard!

I need to bind the Snowflakes and it is complete.  She definitely makes a mediocre quilt look like a first place winner!

THANK YOU NORMA!

My absolutely beautiful hand dyed fat quarter prize for sending in novelty prints to Patty The Quilt Lady arrived last night.  And I they are so gorgeous I don't even want to open the tie and release them!  Lucious.  I have some hand dyes I did two years ago that are waiting for me to begin theVegetable quilt and these will fit right in.  In fact, they may be the direct impetus to me actually beginning that quilt.

 Thank you Patty!

glen

Design Wall 9-26-11

Finally!  Something new on the design wall and a computer to post it with!  I have been having problems in both those areas recently.

This is Ami Simms Twisted Sisters block done in Halloween fabrics from a random visit to Hancocks and the appearance of that pale green fabric which you can really see much of anyway.  Isn't that how it goes?

The block involves some partial seams but Ami's way of doing things is marvelously easy.  And the template makes this block a spooky breeze to make.

Charlene and Ann and I attended the workshop in Lafayette with Ami.  She is wonderful. 

So far there are 20 but I have enough to make about that many more. I am debating on making this with a sashing and making two or making just one large one. 

What could I do with the second one......?

And just to show you that I really did hobknob with Quilt Celebrities here is a picture of us with Ami!  LOL.

glen 

Photos from last week

On Saturday we had a CAAWS Adoption Fair at Walgreen's on Airline and Highland in Baton Rouge.  Two dogs were adopted and we raised $325 in donations!  It was a fabulous SUCCESS!

Here is DiNozzo smoozing the onlookers.  Walgreen's took Halloween photos and here is DiNozzo looking nonchalant as he was being photographed by paparazzi.

This is Barkley.  He has a good chance of being on the cover of the Southbound Calendar this year!  Look at that personality, and I do like his hat.  Yes, calendar season is upon us. 

We stopped by Carrie's house, and took the door off the kennel she keeps Hugeaux in during the week.    It is lined with sheet metal and he has torn it up.  In the process he ripped up his feet and mouth because you and I know that sheet metal can slice like a knife.  She obviously did not and allowed the metal to be on from the last time I told her it was ripped open.  He literally tore half of it off and sliced his paws up pretty badly.  Saturday morning I noticed an abrasion on his eye and ran him into the vet's office.  They don't think there is anything in there but there is definitely a cut.  So he has meds, he is so good about me putting stuff into his eye.

While there I noticed the veggie garden is full of broccoli, peppers and that star of Texas hibiscus.  Pretty.  And an elaborate system of watering tubes.

One thing I did like was that she has this arrangement on top of her cabinets in the kitchen area.  The painting is her original and the wooden grate like thing laying down is from the secretary that belonged to my grandmother.  She recently had it redone and it is sitting in her foyer.

My computer is ..........

HOME!!!

Yeah! I will have some pictures from the week for you, a cold front and a new quilting idea.

There are a few of us who meet several times a month and do some quilting. Tuesday I will get my River City Mystery snowflake quilt from Norma. I am excited to see it. She really does beautiful work. She did the quilting on over 90 quilts for The GivingQuilt this year. Nice! Can't wait for you to see it

I have an interesting thing for Norma to see. I think she will be intrigued by it. Norma! Are you reading? Are you intrigurped?

glen: now I just hope I remember to bring it with me!!

Goings on in the life of a Quilt Goddess

No rain. Can you believe that? It poured where I was and at Carrie's house but not here. And we needed it. Not as bad as Texas, though.

I taught a class of women who are interested in relearning their machines and getting back into sewing and maybe quilting.
Yesterday I presented the rice bag warmer in flannel pastel animals and a zippered pouch out of LSU fabrics. They now worship me as a Quilt Goddess! And I like that!


Still no computer........Maybe today he says, maybe today.

Dutch's limping is more pronounced. I fear we are entering the next stage and I am terrified. Losing Tycho was such a shock that she brought my own boy's situation onto my forefront. He had been doing so well that I was able to look past the bone cancer and see him happy and free. He is still happy, well, as much as he can be with DiNozzo and now Grand-dog Hugeaux bugging him.

DiNozzo rammed me with his head yesterday when I tried to grab him in his fit of atomic energy. My lip bled profusely for half an hour then swelled despite the ice pack. This morning he jumped on me as I was laying on the sofa. When I rolled off to dump him he fell on my foot and bent my toe back. So now I can't walk on it. I look like an abused woman, and it is really quite embarrassing. Really, it is DiNozzo, I could take Frank on in a fight!

So here I sit, damaged lip and toe, living on the accolades from yesterday. Waiting to head out to meet Jenny and work on the accounting for CAAWS. And can't even post anya

glen--- ouch!!! That hurt.........

One Less

There is one less great dog in this world. Tycho or Brendamine's Interplanetary died last night. She was nearing her 11th burthday so she did make the proverbial double digits all Swissy owners hope for.

I knew her all her life, she was such a sweet girl. A bit shly when she first met you, but if you scratched her ears she became your great friend.

She was a comfort to her mom Valerie through some rough spots in her life. That was tycho's style-- low key, head on your leg and these soulful eyes.

I don't have my computer to post any pictures right now, I will have to catch you up on all those thngs later.

Go swiftly, sweet girl, go across that bridge and find Bonnie Doon for me. And carry my love to her.


Aunt Glenda

Busy busy busy

When you know you you have two days with nothing to do but sew, you are sooo happy. Ecstatic even. But ask me what I did , what I made and you will get an exasperated look. Huh? Did I even sew at all, you ask?

The answer is...... not even!

I spent yesterday at the vet with a dog and a cat, then an appointment for me. Then to the hospital to visit my friend Caroline. She is doing well,home now. And nearly went to the guild meeting with me tonight. She felt bad at the last minute and did not go with me.

Today was no different, doc appt, then lunch then a visit to the bike shop. That included each day doing 3.5 miles with DiNozzo and 4 something miles on the bike.

But nooooo sewing.

Guild meeting was held in the sanctuary rather than our regular meeting room, and it was a big change. Very different tonight. But we adjusted and had a wonderful meeting.

And no sewing.......maybe tomorrow.

glen

You Don't Know What You Got 'Til It's Gone

I miss my computer sooooo much!!!!

Still gone so you still have to text me or call or communicate through my blog.

I have good pictures of the Walgreen's event but can't post them yet....yep...that old computer.

We have logged 87 plus miles so far in September on bike rides. I have those pictures as well, but there is that computer thing again.

And I have some pictures of the cooking class with the Dardenne Brothers and that Arancini ball. Blame the computer.

Charlene, how are the pups? Will you be in this Thursday? Or is it the next one? I have been working on my Twisted Halloween blocks from Ami Simms. I have 25 x blocks now.

A friend of mine had a stroke yesterday. It is scary because she is the one who exercises and reads all those heathy books. I wish her the best and a fat ( that should be fast not fat!) recovery.

More when on the flip side

glen.....

Arancini and Communications

I went to a fabulous cooking class today with the Dardenne boys. It never occurred to me that they were the Dardenne boys of Marsha Dardenne of quilting fame! LOL. They were so funny, the pair of grown men snigling back and forth about how to make a good arancini ball!


And the food was so good, well except for the mussels......


You will have to wait for the pictures. My computer went to Tim this morning because of something sent to me that originated from a Mac program. Yep. Give me a good ole PC any day!!! At least the virus programs know how to handle PC threats!


So if you want to communicate with me for the next couple of days, you will have to do it either on the phone or on the blog.


I will be at the Walgreens on Highland and Airline in Baton Rouge tomorrow from 10 am till about noonish with DiNozzo if anyone wants to see what pure badness looks like. And then I will be on the bluebonnet soccer fields with my vet cousin Karen and son Matt after about 3 or so.

Come see me at Walgreens and choose your new best friend from CAAWS.



Stay tuned for more info and activities for the weekend.

glen

Fabric Score

Was heading home from the Aesthetic Medicine Group today and I stopped in to check out Goodwill.  I really need a measuring cup that I can use to scoop the dog's food.  they are currently using my metal one cup and I want it back!

No dice.  But I did find this beauty. For $2.50.  Yes, TWO dollars and fifty cents.

A bright red dust ruffle made from some beautiful 100% cotton quilting fabric.  Bright red, baby!

It has 6 or 7 yards of fabric, the ruffle is about 22 inch wide and there are 14 yards of those strips.  There are also 13 yards of a 3 inch strip. 

Who ever made this did a beautiful job.

The best part?

There are TWO of them!  LOL.  What kind of great score did you make?

glen

Do you want a give away?



before



A blogger friend of mine, Patty the Quilt Lady, is having a really nice giveaway over to her place.  It seems she has finished the room she has been working on for a while and wants to celebrate!  She did most of the work herself, a woman after my own heart!  She owns her own tools even!

These pictures of course are of the work we did on the Bristoe house we bought to re-sell, but ended up renting it out instead.  This was a major re-do, a total renovation.  I wanted to set the mood for the giveaway with some construction photos.

You can see her room re-do before and after and some of her projects of the quilting mode here:

http://pattythequiltlady.blogspot.com/2011/09/lots-to-report-and-re-do-bedroom.html



after



To win you must follow some directions, but you can do that!   The fabulous prize will be fat quarters in her new made over room's colors!  Go see them, I am drooling over them as I type!

glen

Christmas Project Rice Bag Foot Warmer

I owe you a tutorial or two.  I know.  I was so busy last week I did not have a chance to test any of the ones I had planned for you.  So here is one that I have made before and liked and thought you might like as well.

Hugeaux

It is easy to do.  Cheap to make if you use your scraps.  And really necessary in the cold months when the dog wants to cuddle close and not at your feet! 

Chloe the Smelly Basset

I am so lucky to have TWO hot dog warmer dogs now.  Chloe wants to curl up by me only when it is cold.  DiNozzo loves to lay over me, on me, under me, on my feet, on my arm, on my stuff.......you get the picture.  And when the Hugeaux the Grand-Dog comes to visit he LOVES to cuddle.  Cavalier King Charles Spaniels were made, of course, to be used as bed warmers after all!

But I digress........

http://www.vanessachristenson.com/2009/02/tutorialrice-bag-feet-warmer.html

Here is the wonderful tutorial from V and Co.  Make one for everyone on your list in their favorite colors.  Dinosaurs for the kidlets, butterflies for the moms, camo for the dads.  And one for you as well.

I used my 15 minute made fabric scraps to put one of my own together just now.  Took maybe, 15 minutes if you take out Frank coming home, the dogs racing around the back yard, trying to explain why the accounting program won't work and all that.